Nevertheless, the Tigers' bullpen trifecta had Jim Leyland fondly recalling some recent history -- namely, last year's Tigers, a comparison the manager rarely has made lately -- and inspired Zumaya's declaration that "The Bash Brothers are together again," after Detroit finally unleashed its most lethal bullpen combination for the first time all season, in a 2-1 win Tuesday over Cleveland.

Zumaya to Rodney to Jones.

And a vital moment it was, in these Tigers' quest to meld current events with lasting history.

The 42,868 fans grasped the magnitude. They barely finished one standing ovation, for potential future cult hero Jair Jurrjens, before initiating another for Zumaya, who huffed and puffed through warm-ups as if he needed an oxygen tent, after not throwing a live major-league pitch since May 1.

It was a teeth-chattering moment.

For Jurrjens, who within the hour would be wearing a shaving-cream hat, commemorative of his first major-league win.

For the Tigers.

And, most of all, for the bullpen heat merchant upon whom so much of that future rests, against the eerie concerns about such bad early health for an athlete so young. A torn finger tendon, surgery, almost four months out, and already on the comeback trail at 22.

No, this wasn't just another day on the 162-game journey.

"This was a big one, man," Zumaya said. "The crowd was roaring out there. I can't compare this to anything. The fans knew exactly what was coming. They were freaking while I was warming up."

The bullpen-aided one-hitter was Jurrjens' Comerica Park coming-out party. The native of Curacao last week started the second major-league game he ever attended. A week later, against the same opponent, he made one mistake, which Jhonny Peralta hit out of the ballpark, and an inning later was yanked.

"It's hard to take a guy out of a game with a one-hitter," Leyland said.

At just that moment, Leyland's cell phone rang. "Crazy," the Patsy Cline classic, was the ring tone.

But yanking Jurrjens wasn't crazy. The game belonged to Jurrjens, but the event was purely Zumaya's. And the timing was ideal, with Jurrjens laboring after walking the potential tying run with two outs in the seventh inning.

It didn't take long, just five pitches, all fastballs, all reassuring, some downright unsettling to poor Ryan Garko, who took a 97-mph strike on the first pitch -- the slowest he saw -- then knee-buckled at 98-mph vapor around the letters.

Garko grounded the fifth pitch weakly to second base, but that definitive flinch three pitches earlier told the story -- about the impact of Zumaya's return, and the blend of reputation and reality that made the Tigers' bullpen one of baseball's best in 2006.

Zumaya's presence is a shot of confidence, or to the confidence, depending on perspective. From the sixth through eighth innings, his availability directly affects Leyland's decision when to turn to the bullpen, and can encourage opponents to play for single runs earlier than normal, knowing that a 100-mph reliever awaits -- not the closer, mind you, but a middle man -- and that he works in tandem with Rodney's perplexing mix of speeds, before turning over games to veteran-cool Jones.

Until Tuesday, those three had not pitched in the same game this season.

"That was more reminiscent of last year, to be honest," Leyland said.

Zumaya's return doesn't resolve every issue the Tigers face, but it certainly addresses a big one.

The Tigers have been as bad as anyone in baseball during the last month. They generally have failed to get leads from their starting pitchers. When they do, they generally have failed to transport those leads to Jones.

Tuesday, the Tigers' best set-up duo delivered a lead, a sub-two-hour win, and a message.